


Lies and Precious Things

by Daenys the Dreamer (lovely_ericas)



Series: fictober 2019 [1]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Backstory, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-11-22 08:04:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20870924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovely_ericas/pseuds/Daenys%20the%20Dreamer
Summary: When they came ashore at the mouth of the Blackwater Rush to begin their conquest of the Seven Kingdoms, with them came a black-eyed, black-haired bastard named Orys Baratheon. (The World of Ice and Fire)Orys' mother, his parentage, and the legacy of false rumor.





	Lies and Precious Things

_“It’s a good match, Talia.”_

She hears her mother’s voice echoing as she stands at the head of the island staring out at the sea. Talia pulls a golden chain out of her pocket and rubs her thumb over the pendant dangling at the end. Absentmindedly, her other hand begins to rub over her swollen belly.

A good match undoubtedly, but for who? Talia’s brow furrows and she thinks of her baby’s father. A man, a god nearly, silver haired, purple eyed, with pale unburnt skin and soft hands. So unlike herself with her windswept hair, eyes and hair the color of the high black cliffs on which the island of Dragonstone rests, her coarse hands. And yet he had called her beautiful, had said how beautiful they looked wrapped around each other, had not only wanted her for her maidenhead like Flora had said he would.

But he will not marry her, she knows. He may only have the blood of gods from his mother but even a Velaryon would not marry common.

Talia tucks the pendant carefully back inside her pocket. Her legs ache and she longs to sit but she fears she would find herself unable to rise again if she did. She rubs both hands over her belly.

_I do not want a husband if I cannot have him_, Talia thinks sadly. _It was generous of Lord Aerion to make a match for me but it is Jacaerys Velaryon I wish in my bed and no other._

Even if she did not marry Adney, like her mother wished, everyone would believe her babe fathered by Lord Aerion. That was a kindness he had done her that would protect her always.

_One I can never repay either_, Talia thinks.

Lady Valaena had only a little girl of one. If she had no sons of her own, perhaps she would accept Talia’s. For somehow, Talia was sure her babe would be a boy.

_Could I stand to watch my son raised by another woman?_ Talia asks herself. If he never knows his true father, that need not matter, but to watch her son love another woman, call her mother in place of Talia?

_No, I cannot do it._ Talia stares out again at the ocean which is the edge of her world. _Lady Valaena is a good woman and would love my son for her brother’s sake but I could not bear to see my son form the word mother and not mean me._

She did not love Adney. _But he will not treat me ill_, Talia thinks. _He will not dare harm the mother of Lord Aerion’s son. My son deserves a father. I could do worse than Adney. _She clutches the pendant tightly through her pocket and draws it out again. Talia rubs her thumb over the letters Jacaerys had told her spelled out their names intertwined together. She flips the pendant over to the other side and brings the carved seahorse to her lips. Talia kisses it.

_Forgive me, my love_. She lifts her arm and flings it far as she can. It carves a high arc over the cliff and then drops quickly, sinking beneath the waves. _It must be thought Aerion is his father and you have given me a gift far more precious than any piece of jewelry, one that binds us together forever. Orys._

_Our son._


End file.
